PACIDERMA PREPARATIONS.

These preparations are advertised as follows from an address in London:

New Cure for Eczema.—A victim who was cured after 5 years’ intense suffering will gladly send to all readers of the Christian Herald full particulars (free) of an inexpensive guaranteed cure for Eczema, Bad Legs, Sore Hands and all Skin Eruptions, on receipt of stamped addressed envelope.—Write to A. Paciderma.

An application to the address given brought a typed letter apparently produced on a multiple copy machine, from “Paciderma. Manageress, Mrs. E. Avice,” from which the following extracts are taken:

“Paciderma” ... consists of three preparations (in one package), one for internal use and two for external use. Both internal and external Remedies are absolutely necessary to eradicate the disease.... The price is most moderate, namely 6s. and postage 3d. for the package containing the three preparations for thirty days’ full treatment. In conclusion I would point out to you that these Remedies have met with a world-wide success, even in the worst forms of these terrible complaints, and are in fact so wonderfully successful that they are

GUARANTEED EFFICACIOUS IN EVERY CASE

no matter what has previously been tried and failed.... Be sure to fill up the Order Form which I am enclosing you as carefully and accurately as you can so that I may be able to give your case my fullest attention and consideration.

This letter was accompanied by a booklet entitled “Eczema and how to Cure it,” and by an order form with spaces for name, address, date, and the following further particulars:

Age; sex; occupation; how long been suffering? where the complaint is located; are the spots or wounds dry? is there any sticky discharge? are your bowels constipated? do you suffer from piles? do you suffer from indigestion? do you suffer from rheumatism or gout? Do you suffer from any other complaint?

This form, filled up with the details of an imaginary case, was sent with a postal order for the requisite amount. A case of “Paciderma” preparations was at once received, and needless to say there was no evidence of their having been modified in any way in consequence of the “fullest attention and consideration” given to the particulars supplied. The preparations were accompanied by a further letter, typed like the first, from which the following is extracted:

One case of the remedies is generally sufficient to effect a cure, and I trust that it may be so in your case, but if the disease has been in the system for years it has got a firm hold, and naturally takes longer to eradicate; therefore, if this case of remedies should not cure you, you must lose no time in writing for a further supply so that no time may be lost between. You must avoid anything likely to irritate the skin, and be especially careful as to the soap you use, as many soaps are most injurious, being quite sufficient in themselves to cause an eruption. I should recommend you to use “Paciderma Skin Soap” to wash yourself with, as it is absolutely pure, and will keep your skin smooth and healthy.

After an interval a further letter was received, which ran as follows:

Dear Sir,—I have been expecting to hear from you as to how the treatment I sent you some time ago has affected you. I sincerely trust that you have derived benefit from it. As I think I told you before, some cases are naturally much more difficult to cure than others, and take longer time, as in most cases the disease has been for years getting a firm hold on the system, and cannot, therefore, be eradicated in a few days.

I assure you I should be the last to induce you to spend money, unless I honestly thought and believed that the treatment would benefit you. I have been a fellow sufferer myself, and know what it did for me by persevering after everything else had failed. If, therefore, you are not yet cured, I think it is only my duty to strongly urge you to persevere with the treatment, and if you hesitate to do so owing to the money being a consideration to you, I am willing to meet you as far as I possibly can, and will send you the complete 6s. 3d. case for 4s. 6d. post free, which is just cost price, or I will send you the Blood Wafers for 2s. 2d. per box post free instead of 2s. 10d., or the Crème for 2s. 2d. post free instead of 2s. 10d., or the Powder for 7d. instead of 9d. post free.

I am offering you this very great reduction in price as I am most anxious that you should be cured, as I am quite certain that you will be if you persevere steadily.

Do not be afraid of troubling me by writing me fully as to how the treatment has affected you, as I can assure you that I am quite as anxious to cure you as you yourself are to be cured, and I take a special interest in your case.

Trusting soon to hear from you.

Yours truly,
E. Avice.

The booklet already referred to contained a sworn statement by Mrs. Avice detailing her own sufferings and cure, the latter being due to “a dear old friend, an M.D.” Further paragraphs, not in the sworn statement, were as follows:

It remained for my old friend, the Doctor, to whose discoveries I owe my cure, to find the only certain remedy for this dread complaint. For years he studied and searched to find a cure for that curse of hot climates, the “prickly heat,” a very distressing form of Eczema which is very prevalent in warm countries, and which few Europeans escape. At last his perseverance was rewarded, and the long sought for Remedy found and used with the greatest success both abroad and after his return to England. Since his death I have still further improved on and perfected his ideas, and have evolved my now well-known “Paciderma,” which has met with the most startling success in every case in which it has been tried....

Paciderma cures all skin troubles without exception, all pimples, blotches, sores and eruptions of every kind, in sufferers of every age, from the infant at the breast to the old and infirm man or woman who has reached or passed the allotted span of three score years and ten.

It is absolutely the only cure for Eczema.

The following are the results of the examination of the remedies evolved after so much study and research and perfected and improved:

Paciderma Crème.—Price 2s. 9d. per box, holding nearly 4 ounces. Directions for use:

Apply the Crème to the parts affected with the finger, or spread on lint or soft linen, and bandage.

The Crème consisted of a fairly stiff ointment, which on analysis gave results corresponding to the following formula:

Zinc oxide25·6per cent.
Calcium carbonate  2·7”
”  sulphate15·8”
Boric acid15·9”
Basis58·7”

The basis consisted of soft paraffin, apparently with a small proportion of a saponifiable oil, such as olive oil.

The estimated cost of the ingredients for 4 ounces is 1½d.

Paciderma Powder.—Price 9d. per box, containing about 3 ounces. The directions ran:

Allays all itching and irritation, and should be applied freely and frequently to the affected parts, in fact whenever they itch or irritate.

Analysis showed the composition to be:

Maize starch54per cent.
Boric acid14”
Insoluble mineral matter  19”
Moisture13”

The insoluble mineral matter contained alumina, magnesia, and silica, corresponding to a mixture of talc and kaolin; this composition also agreed with all its other properties.

The estimated cost of ingredients for 3 ounces is ¾d.

Paciderma Blood Wafers.—Price 2s. 9d. per box of thirty.

Directions. One to be taken every night at bedtime.

The “wafers” consisted of cachets, each containing about 8½ grains of a powder, the composition of which was indicated by analysis to be:

Sodium bicarbonate59per cent.
Precipitated sulphur  37”
Powdered ginger3”
Aloin1”

The ginger and aloin could only be estimated approximately.

The estimated cost of the ingredients for 30 wafers is one-fifth of a penny.